Cele Trei Surori (2022)

An American Classic with a Korean twist

Maybe the thought of reading a story about three sisters living in poverty bored me. I never bothered reading the novel. To be completely honest, I never even knew the the basic plot of the novel. I just thought it would be about women, like the title suggested.

When the news came out that there would be a Korean remake, it didn’t interest me. I just thought it would be another boring kdrama.

Then I saw the casting, i was taken aback. "such great actors" I thought. But that wasn't enough to get me started on this show. Then I tried reading the reviews here on Mdl and most of them were positive, saying it was a 10/10. So I decided to give this a try.

And I loved it....Its one of my favourite shows now. The plot, the casting, all the crazy plot twists that I never expected. Thanks to this show I've discovered that I love thrillers and even tho I haven't finished it yet (if the ending is bad I'll come back and edit this review) but I have great expectations for this show. Its just so so so so good.

If you haven't tried it yet, please do.

Edit:
okay so I JUST finished the show and WOW. I thought that they might end up ruining it but they ending was so well wrapped!

One of the best shows of 22 without a doubt!

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Watchable with Many Twists and Turns

If you are looking for a show to pass the time and keep you occupied without expecting a tight or somewhat believable plot, this is a show that fits the bill. The plot is crazy over the top and has a little bit of supernatural aspects to it. The main actresses and actors are talented so the acting is done well despite the storyline being so-so. There are several parts which keeps you guessing, its not entirely clear where some of the characters stand with the FLs and whether they can be trusted.

I came into this not expecting a love story or romance and so far that is the case. Nothing sweet or sappy is doled out for the viewer. It does have the standard good poor versus the bad rich theme etched into this. Its about the relationships of sisters and friends, absentee neglectful parents, socioeconomic discrepancies, and how far one is willing to go to break from the chains of poverty to become rich.

While the plot has its many holes, some of the scenes were well acted and writing for the dialog were well written, some examples of scenes which stood out:
- The confrontation of the reporter sister with her reporter nemesis on the sides of truth
- The Villain Heiress confronts the sister in prison and remarks you only thought of the gains from the 70 billion won but never thought of the pain from it

It's engaging enough for me to finish this and rooting for the FLs.

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Very gripping story but got ruined due to historical distortion

i just want little women watchers to be aware of the history distortion and that the vietnamese government requested netflix vietnam to remove it from the platform (now removed). as a little women enjoyer myself, im very disappointed about this

i was feeling iffy when they included it in the plot because kdramas have quite the rep when it comes to inaccurate portrayal of historical events. dont see how the vietnam war is necessary to the plot at this point

this drama couldve been perfect but alas korean media and their never ending list of unnecessary problematic additions to the plot. when will they learn

my favourite part about this drama was the cast especially goeun as injoo and hajoon as Doil. i wish to see them together in a project again

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AMAZING!

I fell in love from it at the very first episode. The actors were amazing, the music on point and am sure noone would feel bored even for a second cause the plot is super intriguing. I would recommend this to anyone regardless of genre preferences. We need more quality content like this.
I would have preferred if the main couple actually had more romance. The chemistry was on point without a developement and to be honest it left me wondering with that open ending. I'll prefer to believe that it won't end there since they both couldn't confess their obvious feelings. MUST WATCH !!!!

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The beauty of the blue orchid

WOW WOW WOW, What a drama realy a compatible one.....
It is a true thriller-mystery Kdrama with a lot of turns and twists. The drama has shooketh me at the extent that I didn't think it is possible. The charachters that have so many secrets in their secrets now have secrets. It is so impressing to see how the mystrey keeps growing, and how far they can strech out the case.
In this drama it will be foolish to trust any charachter writing of this drama is in such a way that you will end of sussing one of the most innocents one only not to be mentioned that till the last episode I could only trust In-joo not any character not a single one but at the end it turned out all good....
The Drama is being accused of distorting history from the Vietnamese side. But according to research on battles, the ratio 1:20 even 1:100 mentioned is completely accurate.

"Operation Ma Doo I , an operation by the 28th Regiment in Phú Yên Province from 21 January to 7 February 1967 results in ROK claims of 160 People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) killed and 167 weapons captured Operation Baek Ma I, a search and destroy operation in Khánh Hòa Province by the 29th and 30th Regiments from 29 to 31 January 1967 results in ROK claims of 390 PAVN killed and 302 weapons captured for no friendly losses Operation Oh Jak Kyo, to link up the Division's tactical area of responsibility with the Capital Division in Phú Yên Province from 8 March to 18 April 1967 results in ROK claims of 831 Vietcong (VC) killed and 659 weapons captured for the loss of 23 ROK Operation Hong Kil Dong, with the Capital Division in Tuy Hòa Province from 9 July to 21 August 1967, ROK claiming 638 PAVN killed for the loss of 26 ROK. 98 crew-served and 359 individual weapons were captured"

Thsi drama is a must go the story will move around everyone but don't forget about the blue orchid.......

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Female led thriller with a distracting title

Little women, loosely based on Louisa May Alcott's novel (only the characters though) is a thriller story of 3 sisters who deals with a society of rich people and their survival to sustain.

Little Women features an extremely well-written plot and air-tight characters. Kim Go-eun does an exceptional job with her acting as In-joo, but it is Uhm Ji-won as Won Sang-ah who takes the cake with her acting. From playing the victim card to acting like a total lunatic, fans really loved to hate Sang-ah. Despite not being a romance drama, fans started growing attached to In-joo and In-kyung’s respective love interests, Do-il and Jong-ho.

Even though with 12 episodes (unlike generic 16 eps for a K Drama), Little Women is as intense as it can get with amazing and intense performances. The plot has twisted so often by this point that this cathartic image at the end of episode 11 brings us full circle, setting up the satisfying conclusion in the show’s concluding episode.

There was a compelling message in Little Women, but what mattered most are the sensations it evoked. It gave us what we wanted to see, at the end. Little Women is an addition of amazing female led dramas (Why Her, Juvenile Justice, Extraordinary Attorney Woo) in 2022.

My Rating : 8.5/10

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A fabulous feminist ode to the classic

Where do I begin? This drama held my attention from the minute it was announced. I quite like Kim Gu-Eun, so was pretty darn sure this was going to be a good one. What I was most curious about though was how they would adapt an English classic to modern times and that too set it in a culture far removed from the original work. Having watched the show, I must say, I was not disappointed in the least.

First things first - parallels between the novel and the series. Like the book. there's an absent father and sisters living in poverty. Meg March's introduction in the novel begins with her proclaiming how terrible it is to be poor. An attitude Oh In-Joo embodies. She's the eldest sister (Meg March), naive, not the brightest bulb in the room, and a hopeless optimist. She's obsessed with bettering their (hers and her sisters lives). While her naivety and stupidity annoyed me in the first couple of episodes, I came to root for her by the 8th episode. Oh In-Kyung is the middle sister and the Jo March of the show. Like Jo, In-Kyung is fiercely independent, reckless, impetuous, a hothead and definitely has a Laurie. She's a journalist who's righteousness oft got on my nerves. Oh In-Hye is the youngest sister and like Amy March in the novel is an artist and is given the opportunity to live a better life. I won't talk about Beth March because anything I say is a spoiler. But I absolutely LOVED how they dealt with that character (and if you've read the book, you know what happens to her)

Now where the show departs from the novel is the whole thriller element - there's a death, there;'s embezzlement, a political conspiracy, intrigue, and psychopathic characters.

NGL, the initial episodes were slow and sort of annoying. Especially because of how dumb In-Joo is portrayed to be and how impetuous In-Kyung is. But I must say the last 5 episodes really bring the show home. If I could ever use edge-of-the-seat to describe a drama, it'll have to be for this one. What I loved the most about this drama is that it places women at the centre of all things good, bad, and ugly. It's just women against women. Women portrayed in every shade - grey, black, sunshine. What a treat that is !! The men are just scaffolds and are treated as such. Never has a show's treatment of female characters left me so satisfied.

Is the drama perfect? Hell, no. There are a lot of loopholes, circumstances that demand suspension of belief, and face-palm moments. But these don;t deter from the tight narrative, brilliant acting, haunting music all of which come together to leave you with a satisfactory experience.

Little Women is not a drama for everyone. But if you love a women-centric thriller, this one's the one for you.

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3 unlikeable sisters in a convoluted messed up plot

I went into this drama thinking it would capture the lovely interrelationships, warmth and support among 3 sisters. Kdramas are masterful at evoking the feel good emotions this show had all the potential to bring.
Instead I found myself absolutely disliking all 3. The eldest sister was constantly foolish and greedy for money which never belonged to her. Her only redeeming factor was that she loved her sisters and was loyal to her friend. But the crazy decisions she kept taking constantly put her family in danger.

The middle sis was a reporter with supposedly high moral integrity and yet she became an alcoholic drinking on the job. There is no story arc on how she gave up being an alcoholic, she simply decides that she would quit drinking once it cost her her job and boom, just like that it is resolved. She is supposedly highly intuitive and senses people's feelings and yet can't understand the heart of the long term friend who is a boy right next to her. She couldn't understand her elder sisters decisions or her younger sisters dangerously misguided ambitions or the source of wealth of the great aunt she had been brought up by since childhood.

The youngest sister was the most despicable of them all. A thoroughly dislikeable spoilt selfish brat, supposedly so guilty about her sisters love and care that she snubbed them all the time and publicly chose sides with the rich crazy family the whole family is suffering from. Even towards the end there is not even a reunion among the sisters. It just shows them all planning their lives separately.

Only Mr Choi and the mystery of his character and intentions kept the drama going for me.

The blue orchid arc was a fantasy element which seemed to add an interesting story arc in between. It was supposedly going to reveal the innermost desires of the person smelling it, or reveal visions and hallucinations. It served that purpose for a couple of episodes then this arc seemed to be just dropped towards the latter episodes and it was all about the psycho lady and political games and criminal activities.

The villians never really get what they deserve. They didn't even get to see the public opinion about them change, suffer a day in jail or feel a loss of power or their corrupt money taken away from them. They just suddenly conveniently died without fuss in a matter of seconds in the final episodes. So unsatisfactory.

This show packed a lot of unbelievable and ridiculous twists and turns but felt heavy and frustrating as there was no investment in the lives of these three frustrating sisters. I'm not even going to talk about the sheer number of plot holes and especially a dead person coming back to life and the ridiculous explanation given for it.

Thank God there were only 12 episodes. Even watching them in 1.5 speed made me feel bored and restless to get it over with. This show taught me that I shouldn't get misguided by it's name and if I didn't like the characters by the first 2-3 episodes it would be wiser for me to drop the series than suffer through it.

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Intriguing drama until almost the end.

It started as a very enjoyable take on what money and greed does to people, the first episodes were full of mystery.
The sister family were little fishes swimming in a tank full of sharks, and you just knew something was off with the Parks, in that feeling of weariness every time they appeared.

Once the drama starts having multiple twists and turns, you just wait for the unavoidable "they are not going to close this perfectly." It's impossible, because there was a lot of stuff that stopped making sense a long time ago.

But I have to say, the drama did try to accommodate almost all the plot points, to write and continue and finish off a somehow believable plot. But I won't lie, a bit of suspension of disbelief is heavily needed, specially towards the end.

I didn't like they used the old "SHE WAS NOT DEAD" soap opera main plot, I think they lost me a little there. I was expecting a final showdown between Hwa Young and Sang A, but it never happened. Furthermore, I was expecting a final showdown between In Kyung and Park JaeSang, but it also never happened. But oh well. It's not as bad as I expected.

That to say, this drama was perfect up until the Singapore episodes, delivering what it is one of the most engaging episodes I've seen lately in any K-drama. To the point at times I was sad it ended, and I am not made for the 1 hour, or 1 hour 20 minutes dramas last.

The downfall of Park Jaesang was perhaps my last favorite moment. The moment Jaesang is out of the pictures, for pretty unclear motives, but still (probably shock value), the drama initiates a total downfall, but still manages to survive.

The acting is impeccable, specially Kim Go Eun and Uhm Ji won deliver an engaging mouse and cat chase. I also enjoyed, to a lesser degree, Ji hyun and Ji hoo performances. And I think they didn't give much chance for other characters to shine more, except maybe Ki Joon.

So, apart from that ending, which I understood at some point, was impossible to be perfect, I will say this has been one of my most enjoyed K-dramas of 2022.

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Much better than Yumi Cells

As you can tell by the headline I 100% watched this show because of Kim Go Eun, I loved her in Goblin and she was excellent in The King: The Eternal Monarch. She can act with any actor and in any capacity. Did I like her in Yumi Cells? yes, but did I like Yumi Cells? No. So with that said, I went into Little Women with an open mind.

I'm an American, so I grew up reading and watching Little Women. I'm not sure if this drama is based on the novel, I actually thought it was just a coincidence it was the same title. But I guess you can say, it's both about poor sisters living in a harsh society. This drama, as much as I enjoyed it (to my surprise) shouldn't have been for me. I don't like "class" dramas. I don't like anything like Parasite, Sky Castle, etc. It's too much angst and not enough fluff.

Why this drama worked out for me:

1.) CASTing. The drama spared no budget on casting. It was an A list cast. My second favorite character was of course, Wi Ha Jun, as everyone knows him from Squid Games, but I loved him in 18 again. He's really rising in the ranks and I absolutely loved his character. He was mysterious, strong, masculine and a little calculating. The writer was very good in developing the characters.

2.) The MUSIC isn't something you think would be catchy. There wasn't really any lyrics, but one of my favorite songs was just instrumental. The music really set the stage and tone for the scenes. You were just moved and it made you feel a certain way, should it be nervous, happy or excited.

3.) The STORY, It's hard to write a thriller that has movement from start to finish. The first 4 episodes are explosive and addicting. You really DO NO KNOW where the direction will take you. I never excited to have so many expected twists and turns. 12 episodes was the perfect length. There were a few scenes here and there I didn't care for, but overall, it was an exciting drama to watch.

A few nit-picky items:

Of course the story wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good in closing loop holes. The writer does take liberties at certain scenes, but to me, this is no different from watching an action movie and a car jumping thousands of feet in the air for show. The characters are over-the-top and at some points you think it's a dystopian society where it's a law-less land. You just have to take the story for what it is.

Lack of romance. There was a little slow-burn, but of course the focus of the show was the sisters, so I guess there was no room for romance. Just don't go expecting hearts and flowers and confessions, but warm gestures.

I didn't always agree with some of the choices some characters made, but I accepted it for what it was and that is okay.

Overall, for a drama that has a genre I don't usually watch or care for, I was really happy and satisfied watching. It kept my interest.

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There's nothing more disappointing...

...than watching a highly anticipated drama, only to be let down. I was so excited for school to end so I could binge watch the crap out of this drama. But honestly, even though there is only 12 episodes, it's been a STRUGGLE to get through. I heard this drama was so good and so intense and I'm just not seeing it??? Everyone in this drama is so irritating! I felt sad for the three sisters initially, but then that slowly faded away and it was just replaced with...nothing. I should be feeling for them, rooting for them, wanting them to win oh so badly but at this point, I don't really care and I'm just watching things play out. I'm just trying to get through the rest of this drama because I hate dropping them and I want the the mystery of everything to be solved and put together. Other than that, I'm just kind of confused with everything that's happening or I'm just confused about how this drama was supposed to be so good and it turned out to be such a let down. The only character I care about is Choi Do Il and he's one of the few reasons that I'm sticking around too. And am I only one who thinks that Oh In Kyung almost seems more like the main character more so than Oh In Joo??? I don't really care for Oh In Joo and Oh In Hye is insufferable. I originally thought this was going to be a drama that was 3 sisters against the world but boy, I was wrong. Anyways, I guess I'll come back here after I finish this drama to finish off the review. Bye for now!

Update: Wow, okay at least everything worked out and I'm left feeling a tiiiny bit warm and fuzzy for the 3 sisters. This was such a weird, confusing rollercoaster of a drama that left much to be desired. I would have loved to see Oh In Joo and Choi Do Il's relationship progress waay more than it did even though I know that isn't the focus of the drama. Honestly, I just loved Choi Do Il so much, he was, hands down, the best part of the drama. I thought Won Sang A played her role well too and she perfectly displayed the insane, entitled General's daughter she was meant to be. Other than that, I don't have much else to say. Overall, not that good but not that bad either. I just didn't find myself invested enough and it just didn't do it for me. I even had to speed it up near the end there because I was getting bored.

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